I'm Back!

School is winding down. The next two weeks are going to be extremely stressful and busy. Finals to study for, essays to write, work to do, and news to catch up on. But, I'll be posting more often and officially come back when school's out.

I just wanted to write a little bit about what Harry Mitchell has been doing thus far in this session of Congress. Specifically, I want to focus on pieces of legislation that he has voted in favor of that have "potential" to do him in in 2008.

Randy Pullen's latest press release targeted Harry and Gabrielle Giffords for voting in favor of the supplemental funding bill with a withdrawal timeline attached. The bulk of it is ridiculous bluster, the same worn over talking points, "Congress is thumbing its nose at the President" (about fucking time), "the Democrats are trying to micromanage the war" (guess it was fine when Rumsfeld was doing it), and, of course, "cut and run" (uh, Randy, "cut and run" is so pre-November 2006 thinking).

Harry voted the right way. I know his staff wrestled with this issue for a good long while. Initially, Harry said he would vote against any funding bill with a withdrawal timeline. He never should have said that to begin with. As the debate over this bill began, Harry started off on the wrong side. I can understand being worried about the huge Republican voter registration advantage in CD-5. But opposition to this war is no longer a liberal or Democratic thing to do. It's liberal and conservative, Republican and Democrat. No one supports this war. Well, at least no one with half a brain cell (sadly, polling proves that around 25-30% of Americans have less than half a brain cell). Disapproval of Bush and the war is over 60% in Kentucky!

The voters of CD-5 will appreciate and support Harry's vote. He will, however, be portrayed as a flip-flopper for coming out against a timeline before the bill reached conference committee. Unless Harry's Republican opponent runs left of him on the war next year, I doubt there will be any long-term effects.

One vote in particular, though, may be difficult for Congressman Mitchell to explain. The bill I am referring to is HR 800, the Employee Free Choice Act. The law will do away the secret ballot workers can cast when decided whether or not to unionize, thus making it easier for workers to form unions. The bill has its merits and its problems, some have gone far enough to say the bill destroys Arizona's status as a right-to-work state. People in Arizona like that status and Arizona has never had an extremely strong union presence since the decline of mining, agriculture, and manufacturing.

The Arizona Chamber of Commerce is going to grill Harry for this vote. Granted, Harry's got plenty of friends in the business community, but I don't see the Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce turning a blind eye. It'll be up to Harry and his team to develop a working strategy that can explain this vote as necessary and good, and set up a good defense against the inevitable attacks.

Okay, some quick random thoughts jumbled together, but now I'm done. I'll be back after Tuesday next week to talk about potential GOP candidates and examine more of Harry's activities in the district and Washington.

Peace out!